Welt



y 1940- w. c. VIZARD 2,201,382

WELT I Filed May 6, 1932 34- -7 .26 30 1822 L22 gl'fl W W OR INVENT I Patented May 21, 1940 UNHTED STATES WELT William C. Vizard, Brockton', Mass, assignor to Barbour Welting Company, Brockton, Mass,

a copartnership Application May 6, 1938, Serial No. 206,390

7 Claims.

This invention relates to welting for shoes and more particularly to improvements in the construction of what is known in the trade as reversewelt.

Standard Goodyear welting comprises, in general, a strip of rectangular cross-section beveled at its inner margin or sewing edge. The inseam secures the welt by its sewing edge to the sewing rib of the insole and welt beating bends the extension downward relatively thereto so that in the finished shoe the inner margin of the welt extends downward under the upper and said margin and the inseam are both hidden within the shoe crease. The ordinary reversewelt receives its name from the fact that its inner margin is turned upward relatively to the extension and the welt is then sewed to the shoe, at the edge of the insole, by an exposed seam laid in the angle formed between the two margins of the welt. Thus the inner margin of the welt extends upward and lays against the upper of the finished shoe with the inseam exposed.

A modified reversewelt has been devised which combines the features above described and provides for a hidden inseam while preserving the appearance of the ordinary reversewelt. This has been accomplished by splitting the sewing edge forming two lips one of which is turned upward to lie against the upper and the other of which is turned downward and is utilized for stitching to the insole as for Goodyear welt shoes. This type of reversewelt has a serious disadvantage. The inseam cannot pull the upstanding lip in tight to the shoe. This diificulty is accentuated by the inflexibility of the sewing edge of the welt and the stiffness of the lips which prevents spreading them. The welt cannot be laid against the upper in such position that the seam will pass through the base of the upstanding lip; it must pass through the downturned lip. This leaves a loose lip outside the upper. Obviously the welt beating will tear at the inseam and, if not break it, will loosen the bond to the shoe. The inseamed welt determines the shape of the shoe; poor workmanship here is fatal to fine shoemaking.

The main object of this invention is. to improve the construction of reversewelt of the type last described so that the upstanding lip may be drawn tight against the upper by the inseam and will stay there throughout the life of the shoe. A further object of this invention is to improve the appearance of shoes embodying a-reversewelt in their construction. Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description of the manner in which the reversewelt i fashioned and attached to a shoe.

The preferred forms of the reversewelt as an article of manufacture, the process of inseanfing and the final position of the welt on theshoe are disclosed in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, of a portion of a grain leather welt strip or fillet as processed to produce the reverse Welt;

Fig. 2 is a view like Fig. 1 showing a slight modification;

Fig. 3 is a View, in cross-section, through a lasted shoe showing the position of the reversewelt at inseaming, but before tension to draw the welt tight to the shoe;

Fig. 4 is a view, in cross-section, of one side of a bottomed shoe showing the reversewelt'applied;

Fig. 5 is a view, similar to Fig. 4, illustrating a form of the reversewelt having a relatively wide upstanding lip; and

Fig. 6 is a view, similar to Fig. 2, illustrating how a reversewelt as shown in Fig. 5 may be fashioned from a strip or fillet.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated by the drawing: v

The simplest form of the welt is as shown. in Fig. 1. Here one edge face .of a strip Ill, eventually the sewing-edge of the completed welt, is split at H beneath the grain for a short distance inward forming two lips l2 and I4 the upper grain-faced lip preferably being somewhat thinner than the lower flesh lip. When the reverse bend is intended to show more or less as a bead at the shoe crease the depth of the slit will be about in a strip prepared for preserving a extension or flap that, after inseaming, protrudes outward from the shoe crease. A flesh strip l6, (shown dotted) of substantially the width of the extension, is also removed from beneath the grain of the strip 10. The strip l6 should be sufficiently thin so as not unduly to reduce the weight of the extension but also sufficiently heavy to produce adefinite shoulder I8 at a point adjacent to but spaced from the root of the slit between said lips by a distance substantially the thickness of the lower lip. On the grain face, just back of the root of the slit, a shallow longitudinal V-groove 20 may be cut to facilitate turning the grain-faced lip I2 upward to stand substantially upright at the inner edge of the extension 22 when the welt is em bodied in a completed shoe (see Fig. 4). The

combined shoulder cut and groove provide pliability at an important point in the welt width.

very snugly against the recess in the upper as it lies lasted in over the feather 24 and the sewing rib 26 of the insole (see Fig. 3). The difference between Fig. 2 and Fig. 1 is that movement or bending of the extension relatively to the split edge portion is enhanced by further relieving the stiffness of the stock along the inner edge of the extension so that the lips may be spread widely. This relief is obtained by removing some of the flesh stock at this point. Preferably a thinning of the stock is accomplished by forming a small longitudinal groove 28 in the flesh of the extension adjacent the shoulder [8 which groove is shown as U-shaped but which may be \l-shaped or otherwise so long as it will serve to give the relief desired. This construction of the reversewelt is preferred in practice by some shoe manufacturers because it permits the extension 22, without strain, to take the differing angular positions relative tothe lip 12 required for inseaming and welt beating as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. A groove at this point also serves to receive the inseam thereby aiding inseam trimming. This thinningof the stock through which the thread of the inseampasses enables the welter to sew a tighter inseam by drawing the spread lips close against the upper of the shoe.

Fig. 3 illustrates the relation of the parts of the reversewelt as it emerges from the welt guide and is sewedin place against the upper. At this stage the lips i2 and It are spread to fit over the shoulder at the feather edge of the insole 30 with the welt shoulder H3, or the groove 28, positioned in a plane well above the base of the sewing rib 26 forming a guide for the welter to strike the needle through and stitch the inseam in the best location (as shown) for drawing the lip 12 snugly against the upper.

Fig. 4 illustrates the final form and position of the reversewelt when the shoe is completed. The butt of the flesh lip M, due, to the novel form of the reversewelt, hugs the upper as it curves inward beneath the feather 24 (Fig. 3) of the insole 3B, the remainder of said flesh lip having been inseam trimmed; the upstanding grainfaced lip I2 is tightly stitched and held against the bulged upper at the ball or concaved upper at the instep, as the case may be, by the tensioned inseam passed through its lower or base portion; and the extension 22, previously beaten into the plane of the lasted shoe bottom, lies in a position of full contact with the outsole 32. There is a clearly defined angle between the upstanding lip I2 and extension 22 and the exposed grain extending without break across the faces of both of these parts of the reversewelt.

In the manufacture of womens shoes both the upper groove and the under groove 28, as used in Fig. 2, enable the welt to fit snugly into the welt crease and at the same time permit the inseam thread to sink into the groove. 23, thus providing for a smooth flat welt extension attached to the outsole32 by the outseam stitch; but in mens shoes, having a heavier construction than womens shoes, it is ordinarily found sufiicient to merely utilize the upper groove 20 as used in Fig. 1.

It will be understood that the height of the lip 52 may be varied as desired, that is, instead of being relatively narrow or bead-like as shown in Fig. 4 it may run a considerable distance up the upper, all determined by the width of the grain face of the original strip In from which 34, to provide aprotective Wall about the uppen The extra flesh 36, indicated as severed from the flesh lip 14 by dotted lines 35, may be utilized as stitchdown welting' or other useful purpose. It usually is desirable to secure this outer wall 34 to the upper as by a single seam 38, fancy stitching, lacing, or otherwise.

The use of the reversewelt of this invention tends to prevent the upper from running over on the welt extension as the shoe wears, locks the upper engaging lip or head firmly to the shoe, and preserves an integral effect of the lip and extension as desired by manufacturers.

The shoe is protected by a divisional application Serial No. 297,067, filed September 29, 1939.

While the reversewelt has been described as being produced from grain leather obviously it is within the scope of the invention to use any other material or combinations of materials suitable for the manufacture of welting.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and its preferred embodiments having been specifically described, the invention in its true scope is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A reversewelt for shoes having a split sewing edge providing upper and lower separable lips, a welt extension in the plane of the upper lip thinner than the combined thickness of said lips, a longitudinal groove substantially at the inner edge of the welt extension and extending parallel to its outer edge, and a shoulder substantially below the inner edge of the welt extension situated adjacent the root of the split between said lips at a distance therefrom substantially the thickness of said lower lip.

2. A reversewelt having a split sewing edge providing two separable lips, a welt extension thinner than the combined thickness of said lips, and a shoulder at the inner edge of the extension situated inward of one of said lips there being a groove cut into the under face of the extension adjacent the shoulder.

3. A reversewelt having its upper face in a, single plane and its lower face in two planes formed by a welt extension portion that is thinner than its sewing-edge portion, there being a shoulder between these two portions of the welt, said sewing-edge portion being edge-slit for a part of its width forming upper and lower separable lips and said upper face having a longitudinal V- groove cut slightly inward of the edge-slit permitting saidupper lip to be turned to an upright position relative to the extension.

4. A reversewelt characterized by a two-lipped sewing-edge portion of the full thickness of the welt and a thinned welt extension portion, the stock at substantially the meeting plane between said two portions being longitudinally grooved to provide pliability for bending at this point in the Width of the welt.

5. A reversewelt for shoes having one margin consisting of a welt extension and its other margin consisting of upper and lower lips, its upper face being in a single plane divided by a longitudinal groove following the inner edge of the welt extension to facilitate bending said upper lip toward the welt extension to assume a final position at an angle thereto and its lower face being in two planes defined by a shoulder so closely adjacent to the root of the slit between said lips that the distance from said shoulder to the free end of said lower lip is a minor portion of the width of the welt.

6. A grain surfaced leather reversewelt having its grain face in a single plane and its flesh face in two planes formed by a thinned grain-faced welt extension portion, the sewing edgeportion being edge-slit forming grain-faced and flesh lips, and there being a flesh shoulder adjacent the root of said slit between said lips but spaced therefrom by a distancesubstantially equal to the thickness of the flesh lip.

'7. A grain surfaced leather reversewelt according to claim 6 having a longitudinal groove in its grain face at a point in the width of the welt approximately above said flesh shoulder.

WILLIAM C. VIZARD. 

